Quinton Jackson has only made three appearances with Bellator MMA, but he seems to already have regrets about leaving the world’s top MMA promotion.
Last month, Rampage posted a message on his Twitter that suggested he isn’t happy with his current situ…
Quinton Jackson has only made three appearances with Bellator MMA, but he seems to already have regrets about leaving the world’s top MMA promotion.
Last month, Rampage posted a message on his Twitter that suggested he isn’t happy with his current situation on the Bellator MMA roster. The former UFC champion hasn’t expanded on his comment, but it appears possible Jackson could entertain an eventual return to the Octagon.
Just a thought.. But I’ve learned a big lesson in life and business: sometimes u should just stay with the devil u know @ufc
On Monday, Bellator MMA figurehead Scott Coker told Ariel Helwani and MMAFighting.com that he still expects Rampage to continue competing with his organization. So, Jackson making a UFC return could still be a long shot, but it no longer seems to be out of the question.
Should he eventually make his way back to the Octagon, here are the five most intriguing matchups available to Jackson as a UFC fighter.
Tito Ortiz is a superstar in mixed martial arts. Whether the fans or pundits want to accept it, the 39-year-old, 18-11 professional fighter is still a star in this sport. He moves the needle whenever he is in front of a camera and microphone. As long a…
Tito Ortiz is a superstar in mixed martial arts. Whether the fans or pundits want to accept it, the 39-year-old, 18-11 professional fighter is still a star in this sport. He moves the needle whenever he is in front of a camera and microphone. As long as he can stay “healthy,” Tito Ortiz will have a place in the world of MMA.
Coming into Bellator 131, Ortiz and Stephan Bonnar had combined for three wins since 2011. Yet, these two former UFC competitors were selected to headline the show. Even through Will Brooks versus Michael Chandler was easily the most important fight on the card and there was a title on the line, they were not given the opportunity to carry the event. Entertainment took precedence over sports value.
The results of the show proved why. According to TristenCritchfield of Sherdog, the show averaged 1.241 million viewers, which is a record for Bellator MMA since landing its time slot on Spike TV. His report also mentions that the event hit two million viewers during the Ortiz vs. Bonnar main event. Their ratings were more than enough to defeat the UFC 180 preliminaries that were going on the same evening (via 5thRound.com).
Ortiz is playing a part in breaking records when facing off against Bonnar, who was never a major star in this sport. Imagine the possibilities if he’s placed against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson or “King” MuhammedLawal. In fact, Lawal and Ortiz have already started taking shots at each other, which could result in huge paydays for both men and even bigger ratings for a Bellator show (via MMAjunkie).
There are numerous opportunities for Bellator MMA to take advantage of Ortiz’s star power. As it builds fighters such as Liam McGeary, Ortiz can play a part in doing so because his name, while not valuable in win-loss purposes, has the ability to bolster any competitor’s resume and recognition.
Then there is the potential for the fighters who compete on cards that feature Tito Ortiz. Patricio Freire, Bubba Jenkins and Daniel Straus are three examples of competitors that have very good MMA skill sets, yet they do not have the ability to draw nearly as much as “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy.” The professional wrestling term of “giving the rub” to these lesser-known fighters would greatly benefit Bellator MMA while momentum is at this point.
Tito Ortiz is a character in the world of mixed martial arts. He’s no longer the fighter that dominated the Octagon a decade ago; however, he’s still using another set of abilities that he learned during that time. Tito Ortiz can draw attention to nearly anything that he does. The results of Bellator 131 show that he can be a lightning rod for the promotion as it looks to re-establish itself in the industry. As long as Ortiz can keep this up, the promotion should get as much from him as it can.
“Me and Bellator, we tongue kissing right now, baby…Ever since I did that ‘A-Team’ movie it like — it’s like I cheated on [the UFC]. And so, you know what I’m saying, like over here I don’t see any way I can cheat on Bellator, because it seems like, you know what I’m saying, they’re with Viacom. They got me all set up. It’s all in-house and stuff like that…I see me being happy with these guys for the rest of my career. Because, you know what I’m saying, I can just feel it…I’ve done a lot of favors for the UFC, and sometimes, I didn’t get my favors back to me.”
Bellator saved him from a disgruntled existence with the UFC, just like the UFC saved him from a disgruntled existence with PRIDE. And for a while, Rampage and the Bjorn Rebney-led Bellator were in the thrall of new romance, just tongue-kissing their brains out. ‘Page dutifully played along with Spike TV’s awkward pro-wrestling crossover storylines, and he was successful in the cage, going 3-0 under the Bellator banner with first-round knockouts of Joey Beltran and Christian M’Pumbu. (He also beat King Mo in a dubious decision that nevertheless produced one of the best soundbites of the year.)
“Me and Bellator, we tongue kissing right now, baby…Ever since I did that ‘A-Team’ movie it like — it’s like I cheated on [the UFC]. And so, you know what I’m saying, like over here I don’t see any way I can cheat on Bellator, because it seems like, you know what I’m saying, they’re with Viacom. They got me all set up. It’s all in-house and stuff like that…I see me being happy with these guys for the rest of my career. Because, you know what I’m saying, I can just feel it…I’ve done a lot of favors for the UFC, and sometimes, I didn’t get my favors back to me.”
Bellator saved him from a disgruntled existence with the UFC, just like the UFC saved him from a disgruntled existence with PRIDE. And for a while, Rampage and the Bjorn Rebney-led Bellator were in the thrall of new romance, just tongue-kissing their brains out. ‘Page dutifully played along with Spike TV’s awkward pro-wrestling crossover storylines, and he was successful in the cage, going 3-0 under the Bellator banner with first-round knockouts of Joey Beltran and Christian M’Pumbu. (He also beat King Mo in a dubious decision that nevertheless produced one of the best soundbites of the year.)
But the infatuation phase wears off, as it always does, and the person you thought you were sleeping with looks a lot different in the light of day. Now that current president Scott Coker is beginning to clean house and set course for new directions, things at Bellator aren’t the same anymore. Predictably, Quinton Jackson is beginning to regret leaving the familiar embrace of his old wife, the UFC. Only this time, there isn’t a new set of arms waiting to catch him.
“I like Rampage Jackson,” said White. “Rampage and I have a very unique relationship in that all the stuff that goes on publicly, behind the scenes we square away. He’s a good dude.”
Ben Saunders has proven that it’s possible to wash out of the UFC, do relatively well in Bellator, then be brought back to the UFC. The question is, are UFC fans willing to see Rampage back in the Octagon? Considering that the UFC needs Fight Pass headliners now more than ever, a Rampage return could be possible whether we like it or not.
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson is ready to make a deal with the devil. The one he knows, anyway. It’s been almost two years since Jackson left the UFC for Bellator, and now it seems as though he’s interested in returning to the Octagon.
His run in Bel…
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson is ready to make a deal with the devil. The one he knows, anyway. It’s been almost two years since Jackson left the UFC for Bellator, and now it seems as though he’s interested in returning to the Octagon.
His run in BellatorMMA has given the former UFC champion three straight victories, but after the departure of former CEO Bjorn Rebney from the organization earlier this year, we haven’t seen or heard much from Rampage.
Jackson sent out a tweet on Monday expressing his thoughts now that he has fought for both promotions:
Jackson initially expressed a general disinterest with the fight game earlier this year when it was announced that Rebney would no longer serve as Bellator‘s CEO, saying the following in an Instagram post:
The first time Chuck and I fought was in Japan. PRIDE reps asked me to give him a good beating even though I had two fights that night. I lost my second fight that night cause I did what they asked, and they stood up the fight with Wanderlei too soon, in my opinion. MMA hasn’t had my back the way I had its back. Time for me to think about retirement. Or fighting for myself.
Jackson has lashed out publicly at the UFC numerous times since the split, and though crazier things have happened, it will be interesting to see if the UFC makes an effort to bring him back.
In the main event of Bellator 131, Tito Ortiz narrowly defeated his latest nemesis, Stephan Bonnar, by split decision. The victory gives Ortiz his second straight, and there are only a few options that make sense for Tito’s next fight.
Bellator h…
In the main event of Bellator 131, Tito Ortiz narrowly defeated his latest nemesis, Stephan Bonnar, by split decision. The victory gives Ortiz his second straight, and there are only a few options that make sense for Tito’s next fight.
Bellator has announced the first three shows of 2015, and beyond those shows, they should book Tito Ortiz against either Quinton “Rampage” Jackson or “King” Mo Lawal. Either fight would register as significant with casual fans of mixed martial arts, and either would be worthy of headlining their first big “tent-pole” event of the new year.
The first reason Tito needs to fight one of these two is that there aren’t very many other fights that make sense. You could give Ortiz a title shot against the winner of Emanuel Newton vs. Liam McGeary, but he’d most likely get beat into a living death by either of them, as most people would anticipate, so beyond that fight he’d have little remaining value as a headliner once he were to lose.
Lawal has already lost to the champ twice, and he lost a close fight to Rampage earlier this year, so there aren’t a lot of valuable fights to him to take right now, either.
Per The MMA Report, at the Bellator 131 post-fight press conference, Lawal voiced his interest in fighting Ortiz, saying:
Now if you want some, you get some. I’m just saying. You fought Bonnar, no offense to Bonnar, but Bonnar has been gone for two years. That’s fine. I’ll Django your ass. Straight up, Django. I will bust your ass, straight up. I’m serious.
Although Lawal is confident that he’d beat the former UFC light heavyweight champion, he isn’t convinced that Ortiz will fight him, saying, “You ain’t going to fight me, I know that. You’re going to be, ‘My neck, my back, my knee.'”
The fight makes sense for both fighters, but if Tito is uncertain about getting in the cage with King Mo, he should fight the other former UFC light heavyweight champion on Bellator’s roster, Quinton Jackson.
Ortiz and Rampage were originally supposed to headline Bellator 106 before Tito had to pull out of the fight with a neck injury just a week before the event. The two then went on separate paths through the Bellator roster.
Rampage ran through Joey Beltran and Christian M’Pumbu and then won a narrow and controversial decision over Lawal in his three fights in the Bellator cage.
Ortiz came back from the neck injury and answered a challenge from then-middleweight champion Alexander Shlemenko at Bellator 120, and put the Russian to sleep in the first round. Now that Bonnar is in his rear-view, the Rampage fight makes plenty of sense for Ortiz to take.
Since the departure of Bjorn Rebney from Bellator, Rampage Jackson’s fighting status has been up in the air. A recent Instagram post from Jackson indicated that he’s having problems with the new regime at Bellator but said he ultimately wasn’t done fighting. Regardless of what his qualms are, he originally signed with Bellator for a fight with Ortiz. He should have no problem facing Tito under Scott Coker’s new big lights and big entrance stage.
Even though Emanuel Newton is the champion and Liam McGeary is undefeated with every single victory coming by way of a stoppage, these three men are the biggest names in Bellator right now. It’s time for Ortiz to move away from the “freakshow” fights and the grudge matches, and face a legitimate challenge, which either Mo Lawal or Rampage Jackson could provide.
LAS VEGAS — Around 4 p.m. on October 18, tens of thousands gather around Sam Boyd Stadium on the outskirts of this very famous city, closer to the mountains and the Hoover Dam than the casinos and broken dreams of the Vegas strip.
The official at…
LAS VEGAS — Around 4 p.m. on October 18, tens of thousands gather around Sam Boyd Stadium on the outskirts of this very famous city, closer to the mountains and the Hoover Dam than the casinos and broken dreams of the Vegas strip.
The official attendee uniform color, apparently, is black. Many bear the signature logo of the energy-drink company Monster, either on their sideways-tilting hats or socks. A fence sections off an area taking up most of the parking lot. It is called The Pit.
Inside of The Pit, hundreds wait in line for alcohol at a makeshift tent. Half as many stand in a line for rank portable toilets. In the distance, human beings fly into the air on motorcycles to the delight of a roaring crowd.
The event is the Monster Energy Cup, a supercross featuring dozens of the world’s greatest dirt-bike riders competing for a one-million-dollar grand prize. Outside the stadium, out in The Pit, there are demonstrations of insane motorcycle jumps. And on a grassy hill sidling up to the edge of the dilapidated stadium, there is a six-sided cage adorned with the Bellator MMA logo.
North America’s second-largest mixed martial arts promotion was hitting Las Vegas for the first time, and it elected to do so as part of a unique promotional event. The Ultimate Fighting Championship owns Vegas, and it is rare for any other promotion with any kind of foothold in the market to appear here.
There are many local fight promotions; Tuff-N-Uff has promoted local amateur fights for more than a decade without interference from the UFC.
But few promoters seen as direct competitors to the UFC ever run an event in this city. That’s largely because they can’t find a venue willing to risk angering Zuffa or its casino-magnate owners.
Bellator’s first foray into the market went mostly unnoticed until it happened. The three-fight bout sheet was not mentioned on its official website. MMA fans on Twitter almost unanimously had no idea the event was taking place until Saturday.
It was a curious Vegas debut for Bellator, an organization that has undergone a much-needed change over the past six months. Gone is Bjorn Rebney, the maligned former owner and president of the company. In his place is Scott Coker, the former promoter of Strikeforce and a man who is universally liked by everyone in the mixed martial arts sphere.
Coker sold Strikeforce to Zuffa in 2011 and spent a few years as a quasi-paid employee of the UFC. In reality, he spent a lot of time playing golf. On June 18, Coker was announced as the new president of Bellator.
Coker has worked swiftly to remake Bellator in Strikeforce’s image. He installed Rich Chou, his longtime Strikeforce matchmaker, in the same role at Bellator. Many of the same public relations officials are in place.
And Coker has done away with Bellator’s longtime tournament and weekly show format. In 2015, Bellator will move to monthly Friday night events, and it’ll promote larger Saturday night events every three months.
In all, Chou told Bleacher Report, the organization will plan on running roughly 16 events in 2015, and it’ll do so in cities that are easier to promote than the usual Indian reservations Bellator is used to running.
The lighter schedule is a relief for Chou, who said it’s nearly impossible to effectively run weekly events due to the overwhelming amount of talent required to do so. And Bellator public relations official Anthony Mazzuca noted it’ll be easier for the organization to promote events when it has a full month between fight cards rather than seven days.
Those days are off in the distance, but Bellator and Spike TV will test their new format on November 15 when they air an event headlined by former UFC stars Tito Ortiz and Stephan Bonnar.
Ortiz and Bonnar, both past their prime, are the name-value guys Coker hopes to draw in the casual fans with. Once he has their attention, he hopes they’ll become attached to Will Brooks and Mo Lawal and others. And if they see a vicious knockout in the bout between professional kickboxers Joe Schilling and Melvin Manhoef, well, so much the better.
The November 15 card is the prototype for Bellator events in 2015. For now, it’s running out the last of its events scheduled for the fall, and it’s also testing out the new promotional tool with Monster-branded events.
Coker, Chou and Mazzuca mill around the cage, which features a new black canvas adorned with the Monster logo.
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Bellator’s highest-profile signing to date, arrives and spends time casually chatting with fans around the cage before being interviewed by the ring announcer. The announcer asks Jackson for his thoughts on the Monster Energy Cup and all the trappings that go along with it.
“I’m glad to be here,” Jackson says. “Do they have this every year, or what?”
Former UFC bantamweight Dominick Cruz arrives. He is sponsored by Monster and, like Jackson, is wearing clothing adorned with the Monster logo. But he is also a student of the fight game and a vociferous watcher of fights, regardless of the talent level involved.
Later, he will watch the action in the cage silently, while Jackson offers his take on a cageside comedy routine: give hilarious advice to a fighter in the cage, wait for the audience surrounding him to laugh and repeat.
The first fight of the evening features Gustavo Lopez taking on Sean Cantor. Lopez is close friends with UFC stars Miesha Tate and Bryan Caraway. Cantor is a local product who trains at Syndicate mixed martial arts. He does not last long with Lopez, who wins by rear-naked choke in the first round.
The second fight features Adrian Hadribeaj taking on A.J. Williams, another local fighter who goes by the nickname Black Dynamite. Jackson is enamored with this nickname and continues his comedy show by continually repeating the same phrase:
“Black Dynamite! Use the jab!”
Black Dynamite does not use the jab. Instead, he opts to repeatedly use the flashiest moves in his arsenal. He uses the spinning back fist to the point where Hadribeaj is able to see it coming from a mile away and casually step aside.
In the second round, Williams attempts a Showtime Kick, sort of. It misses by a mile. Jackson and his friends howl with delight. Cruz hangs his head in disgust. Still, it is a close fight, and Jackson urges Williams to go for the finish in the closing moments of the final frame.
“Black Dynamite! You have a short time to take him out! Take him out!,” Jackson says.
Black Dynamite does not take him out and ends up losing a split decision. But it was an exciting contest between two evenly matched competitors, and it prepared the fans in attendance for the main event.
One thing I forgot to mention: For this event, Bellator is using a smaller 20-foot cage. The main event features two large heavyweights: Dan Charles and James Wilson, who looks like the product of a world where Tyron Woodley and Daniel Cormier somehow make a baby. They are large, and the cage is small, and that is usually a recipe for violence. Chou figures the fight won’t last longer than two-and-a-half minutes.
Before the main event, Jackson asks Cruz where he trains. Cruz tells him he trains at Alliance. Jackson asks where Alliance is located, and Cruz tells him it’s in San Diego. Jackson turns to his buddy and says he’d like to train in San Diego.
“I ain’t got nobody to train with right now,” Jackson says, with just a hint of sadness in his voice.
Charles and Wilson hit the cage. The sun is vanishing over the mountains on the horizon. It is a beautiful night and a picturesque setting for mixed martial arts. Wilson fouls Charles three times in the first round: a blatant cage grab and two knees to the groin. Referee Steve Mazzagatti, just as ineffective outdoors as he is in the confines of the MGM Grand or Mandalay Bay, does not take a point away.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter. Charles is far more athletic than Wilson. Chou says Charles will eventually have to move to light heavyweight; he weighed in at 226 pounds after taking the fight on one week’s notice.
“That’s a light heavyweight,” Chou says.
Charles wins a split decision that is not remotely as close as the scorecards indicate. He apologizes to friends sitting cageside, telling them he broke his right hand in the first round and wasn’t able to punch. They tell him not to worry about it, because he still put on a great performance and, in the end, he got the win.
The fans immediately disperse and head inside the stadium for the supercross. Motorcycle engines are firing. Alcoholic beverages are being consumed in large quantities.
Outside, the Bellator team begins taking down the cage, preparing to vanish into the night.
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson is ready to make a deal with the devil. The one he knows, anyway. It’s been almost two years since 
